Overview

Baroness Valerie Amos is UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. A former Leader of the House of Lords and Secretary of State for International Development, she was British High Commissioner to Australia until joining the UN. She is chair of the Royal African Society and has a long standing commitment to development, particularly on the African continent. As a Minister in the British Government she worked with colleagues globally to tackle poverty in Africa by increasing aid flows, through debt relief initiatives and promoting private sector investment on the continent. She has been active for over thirty years on the promotion of human rights, social justice and equality on the African continent. Valerie Amos was the first black woman appointed to a British Cabinet and the first black Leader of the House of Lords. In the United Kingdom she has played a central role in the Government’s broader diversity and community cohesion agenda.